Extensible luggage



April 1953 M. SUBEN Q 2,635,721

EXTENSIBLE LUGGAGE Filed Nov. 15, 1951 iNVENTOR MORT E N SUB EN ATTORNz Patented Apr. 21, 1953 2,635,721 Y-EXTENSIBLE LUGGAGE Morten Suben, Bronx, N. Y., assignor of one-half to Max Caplan, Flushingn N. Y.

This invention relates to luggage of thetype and kind where two substantially similar top and bottom parts are hingedly coupled with an in termediate part and adapted to be extended into diiferent positions with respect to each other and,

particularly, in extending the same to form an elongated wardrobe. More particularly, the invention deals with luggage of the character described, having latching means in the form of cam. like discs for retaining the case parts in extended position and, further, wherein the bottom or lower case part includes extendablefeet for bracing the wardrobe when in operative position;

The novel features of the invention will be best understood from the following description, when taken together with the accompanying drawing, in which certain embodiments of the invention are disclosed and, in which, the separate parts are designated by suitable reference characters in each of the views and, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view, diagrammatically showing a piece of luggage made according to'my invention.

' Fig. 2 is a broken sectional view through the luggage, showing the same in one extended position in full lines and indicating the second extended or wardrobe position in dot and dash lines.

Fig. 3 is a detail view of one of a number of cam latches, which I employ, indicating the same in unlatched position in dot and dash lines.

Fig. 4 is a side view of the lower portion of the luggage, as seen in Fig. 1, with part of the construction broken away and illustrating the parts ,in extended position in dot and dash lines.

.Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional View, substantially on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2, showing the latch in elevation; and

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 2 showing the foot members in extended position.

In the drawing, I have diagrammatically shown at I What can be termed the top part, or section, of extensible luggage made according to my invention. At H I have shown a substantially similar bottom part, or section, and at 12 is an intermediate part or section, to which the parts or sections [0, H are hinged, as seen at 13 and I4, respectively.

- In the accompanying drawing, no attempt has been made to illustrate facings or linings of the luggage parts, as this, in itself, forms no part of the present invention.

- The parts In and II each comprise substantially oblong and rectangular wall portions and I6, respeotive y, having end; walls I! and l8,the

Application November 13, 1951, Serial No. 256,062

6 Claims. (01. 19c 14)' opposed ends I9, 20 of said parts being open to receive the part l2, as will clearly appear from a consideration of Fig. '1 of the drawing. .The part It has side walls 2! and 22, respectively;

7 whereas, the part II has similar walls 23 and 24.

Arranged within the part l0, adjacent the end wall H, is a suitable hanger means 25 for. sup- .porting a plurality of garmenthangers diagrammatically seen at 26, this structure being similar to conventional hangers, as are well known in luggage of various types and kinds.

Secured to the end wall I! is a covering sheet 2'! adapted to cover garments supported on the hangers, the sheet 2'! being held in position by any suitable means such, for example, as an elastic strap, diagrammatically shown at 28.

Supported on the inner surface of the end wall 13 are a pair of diverging channel strips 29, in whichare slidably mounted leg members 30 having extending ends 3|. These leg members are normally collapsed within the part II, as seen infull lines in Fig. 2, and adapted to be extended beyond the boundaries of the walls 23, 24 to provide a widespread support of the wardrobe when the parts are in the dot and dash positions shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing. This extension of the members 30 is clearly seen in Fig. '6' of the draw- The part, or section, l2 has side walls 32., 33 which are disposed within the walls 2|; 22, 23; 24, the walls 32, 33 being braced at the openside thereof by a transverse brace rod34, as seen in Fig. 2 of the drawing.

Secured to the part l2, adjacent the hinge I 4, is a ring, or eye, 35, preferably adjacent the wall 33 or, in other words, at one side of'the part l2. Secured to the innerv surface of the wall IS in alinement with the ring or eye 35 is a catch device 36 to support the parts I! and 12 in the full line position shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing. However, by releasing the catch 36, the part II can be lowered to the position indicated in dot and dash lines in said figure.

:Suitably supported in the part II are three compartments, or containers, diagrammatically ,seen at 31, 38 and 39in Fig. 2 of the drawing.

These compartments, or containers, are adapted to formsupports for apparel and other travelling accessories, as commonly packed in luggage of the kind under consideration.

Pivoted to the walls 32, .33 are two pairs of cam latches, one cam latch 40 of one pair being pivoted at 4|, note Fig. 2, and the one latch 42 of the other pairbeing pivoted as seen at 43, note Fig. 4 of the drawing. As the latches of each pair are the same, the need for showing the duplicate latch is not deemed to be necessary. The latch 40 shown in Fig. 2 is disposed between the walls 2|, 32 and its companion latch will be disposed between the walls 22 and 33. The two latches 42 are correspondingly disposed between the walls 23, 32; and 24, 33.

The latch 40 has a cam-shaped groove 44, in which a pin 45, fixed to the wall 2 I, operates and, when the parts are in the extended position shown inFig. 2 of the drawing, the pin 45 is positioned within a bayonet-type offset 46 of the groove 44, which supports the parts I and I2 in extended position with respect to each other.

In Fig. 3 of the drawing, I have shown an enlarged detail view of the cam latch 40 with the pin in the locked or latched position. It will, thus, be apparent that, by pressing inwardly on the surface 41 of the cam, the pin 45 can be freed from the offset 46, thus allowing the part ID to swing downwardly into closed position on the part I I, as will be apparent. It will be understood that, in this operation, the pin 45 swings the latch 40 inwardly and then downwardly, moving through the groove 44 in this operation and, then, returning to a position at the offset end 46 of the segment. This relative movement is illustrated more clearly in the showing in Fig. 4, where the pin 45, fixed to the wall 23, operates in the groove 44 from the offset end 46 back to such oifset end, in which it is latched, when the parts are in the dot and dash position shown in Fig. 4 of the drawing.

Considering Fig. 4, it will be apparent that the latch 42, as viewed in the dot and dash line position, must be swung in the directionof the arrow 48 to facilitate swinging movement of the part I I on the part l2 from the dot and dash line position of Fig. 2 to the full line position of said figure.

It will be understood that both latches of each pair will be of the same construction and will operate in the same manner. These latches are in the form of thin plates. Note, for example, the latch 40, shown in Fig. 5 of the drawing, and these plates serve to brace and support the respective parts of the case or luggage in the different posi- .tions thereof.

It will be understood from a consideration of Fig. 2 of the drawing that the luggage may be arranged on a suitable support in the manner shown in full lines in Fig. 2 of the drawing in the operation of packing apparel and accessories in the luggage and, whenever desired, the parts can be moved into the dot and dash line position of Fig. 2 to form a wardrobe in which garments can be hung substantially the full length of the parts III and I2, plus the upper portion of part I I,'particularly when 31, 3.8 and 39 are retainedin position in the part II. However, inremoving 31, '38 and 39, a full length wardrobe will be provided.

It will be apparent that luggage of the type and kind under consideration will lend itself for use in travel, particularly when wardrobe facilities are notgavailable, such as in camps, motels and similar establishments and, .still more particularly, luggage of this kind has a practical use where people are on the move and are simply making overnight stops where the need for completely unpacking the luggage is not essential.

In these uses, the-garments can be maintained in positionin the luggage and, yet, hung fol-the removal of wrinkles and the'like, thus keeping the packed garments in much better condition than sage.

would be :possible'with conventional of lug- Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In luggage of the character described. comprising two similar top and bottom case parts, an intermediate part disposed within and closing open ends of said top and bottom parts, means hingedly coupling the top and bottom parts to said intermediate part, said top and bottom parts and intermediate part having overlapping side walls when said parts are in collapsed position with respect to each other, means intermediate said overlapping walls for pivotally and movably coupling the top and bottom parts with the intermediate part to extend the top and bottom parts in positions in alinement with said intermediate part in forming a wardrobe-like structure, and said last named means comprising pairs of cam latches pivoted to said walls of the intermediate part and movably coupled with side walls of the top and bottom parts.

2. In lug age of the character described, comprising two similar top and bottom case parts, an intermediate part disposed within and closing open ends of said top and bottom parts, means hingedly coupling the top and bottom parts to said intermediate part, said top and bottom parts and intermediate part having overlapping side walls when said parts are in collapsed position with respect to each other, means intermediate said overlapping walls for pivotally and movably coupling the top and bottom parts with theintermediate part to extend the top and bottom parts in positions in alinement with said intermediate part in forming a wardrobe-like structure, said last named means comprising pairs of cam latches pivoted to side walls of the intermediate part and movably coupled with side walls of the top and bottom parts, and manually operated means for coupling the bottom part with the intermediate part to control relative movement of said parts one with respect to the other.

3. In luggage of the character described, comprising two similar top and bottom case parts,,an intermediate part disposed within and closing open ends of said top and bottom parts, means hingedly coupling the top and bottom parts to said intermediate part, said top and bottom parts and intermediate part having overlapping side walls when said parts are in collapsed position with respect to each other, means intermediate said overlapping walls for pivotally and movably coupling the top and bottom parts with the intermediate part to extend the top and bottom parts in positions in alinement with said intermediate part in forming a wardrobe-like structure, said last named means comprising pairs of cam latches pivoted to side walls of the intermediate part and movably coupled with said Walls of the top and bottom parts, manually operated means for coupling the bottom part with the intermediate part to control relative movement of said parts one with respect to the other, and said bottom part having a pair of leg members normally collapsed within said part and adapted to be extended angularly with respect to sides of the bottom part in support of the luggage in wardrobe position.

4. In luggage of the character described, comprising two similar top and bottom case parts, an intermediate part disposed within and closing open ends of said top and bottom parts, means hingedly coupling the top and bottom parts to said intermediatepart, said top and bottom parts and intermediate part having overlapping side walls when said parts are in collapsed position with respect to each other, means intermediate said overlapping walls for pivotally and movably coupling the top and bottom parts with the intermediate part to extend the top and bottom parts in positions in alinement with said intermediate part in forming a wardrobe-like structure, said last named means comprising pairs of cam latches pivoted to side walls of the intermediate part and movably coupled with side walls of the top and bottom parts, manually operated means for coupling the bottom part with the intermediate part to control relative movement of said parts one with respect to the other, said bottom part having a pair of leg members normally collapsed within said part and adapted to be extended angularly with respect to sides of the bottom part insupport of the luggage in wardrobe position, and means for hanging garments in the top part.

5. In luggage of the character described, comprising two similar top and bottom case parts, an intermediate part disposed within and closing open ends of said top and bottom parts, means hingedly coupling the top and bottom parts to said intermediate part, said top and bottom parts and intermediate part having overlapping side walls when said parts are in collapsed position with respect to each other, means intermediate said overlapping walls for pivotally and movably coupling the top and bottom parts with the intermediate part to extend the top and bottom parts into positions in alinement with said intermediate part in forming a wardrobe-like structure, said bottom part having an end wall, diverging channels on said end wall, and leg members normally collapsed in said channels within boundaries of the end wall and extendible into wide-spread position with respect to said end wall in support of the luggage in wardrobe position.

6. In luggage of the character described, comprising two similar top and bottom case parts, an intermediate part disposed within and closing open ends of said top and bottom parts, means hingedly coupling the top and bottom parts to said intermediate part, said top and bottom parts and intermediate part having overlapping side walls when said parts are in collapsed position with respect to each other, means intermediate said overlapping walls for pivotally and movably coupling the top and bottom parts with the intermediate part to extend the top and bottom parts into positions in alinement with said intermediate part in forming a wardrobe-like structure, said bottom part having an end wall, diverging channels on said end wall, leg members normally collapsed in said channels within boundaries of the end wall and extendible into wide-spread position with respect to said end wall in support of the luggage in wardrobe position, and manually controlled means independent of said pivotal means for definitely coupling the bottom part with the intermediate part to control relative movement of said parts one with respect to the other.

MORTEN SUBEN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,150,057 ONeill Aug. 17, 1915 1,345,247 Robbins June 29, 1920 1,528,173 Wagenet Mar. 3, 1925 1,728,223 Winship Sept. 17, 1929 1,745,137 Woods Jan. 28, 1930 1,823,403 Krueger Sept. 15, 1931 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 327,957 Great Britain Apr. 14, 1930 

